23 ms·

In France all our Decathlon (generic sport gear) stores already have RFID chips and checking out (at a free outlet to self checkout or at a cashier who'll basic

In France all our Decathlon (generic sport gear) stores already have RFID chips and checking out (at a free outlet to self checkout or at a cashier who'll basically do the same thing as you) consist of only putting the goods in a basket, the recognition / scanning of the RFID chip is very good and fast. If you walk out with goods you didn't buy the guard will have a notification on his smartphone with the list of unpaid items. They're already very close getting to "Just Walk Out" from Amazon situation but I'm not sure how expensive putting an RFID chip in every product is.. ?

mpettitt 7y ago
UK ones have baskets you put stuff in, but they appear to be using multiple barcode scanners, at least for low value items. I'm guessing there is a cost-benefit trade-off at some point, as well as a potential functional impact problem (hard to put an RFID tag in a solid lump of plastic!). The combination seems to work well though, and is certainly faster than most supermarkets.
londons_explore 7y ago
It's still at the ~8cents per item pricerange. Metal cans require a different kind of more expensive tag. Thats still to much for groceries where items are typically only ~$2.50, and the staff time to scan a barcode is ~$0.01
- jessriedel 7y ago
  Do you have a reference for that ~8 cent figure? I thought it had dropped below a penny.
7777fps 7y ago
I went to a Decathlon in the UK to buy a bag and it was a weird experience. There was something a bit unnerving about interacting with a system with not enough feedback. A reassuring 'beep' from the system would have helped me know it had scanned and was happy rather than waiting for it to show up on a screen. Overall I find self-checkouts with barcodes quicker and easier. A scan and beep is a quick action. Putting something in a basket and waiting an unspecified amount of time was weird but no doubt would be something I'd get used to if it was a regular thing.

mpettitt 7y ago

UK ones have baskets you put stuff in, but they appear to be using multiple barcode scanners, at least for low value items. I'm guessing there is a cost-benefit trade-off at some point, as well as a potential functional impact problem (hard to put an RFID tag in a solid lump of plastic!). The combination seems to work well though, and is certainly faster than most supermarkets.

londons_explore 7y ago

It's still at the ~8cents per item pricerange. Metal cans require a different kind of more expensive tag. Thats still to much for groceries where items are typically only ~$2.50, and the staff time to scan a barcode is ~$0.01

jessriedel 7y ago
Do you have a reference for that ~8 cent figure? I thought it had dropped below a penny.

7777fps 7y ago

I went to a Decathlon in the UK to buy a bag and it was a weird experience. There was something a bit unnerving about interacting with a system with not enough feedback. A reassuring 'beep' from the system would have helped me know it had scanned and was happy rather than waiting for it to show up on a screen. Overall I find self-checkouts with barcodes quicker and easier. A scan and beep is a quick action. Putting something in a basket and waiting an unspecified amount of time was weird but no doubt would be something I'd get used to if it was a regular thing.